Habalabam

And somehow, the organ from the acidic circulatory system is compatible with the host physiology? I don't like it. The whole xeno lore is about not being able to separate the jackpot from the monsters. Xeno parts and xeno eggs should be valuable, but only if it comes with the risk of the "domesticated"/incapacitated/incarcerated queen finding a way to breed. Thus, the greed of men spell their doom.

They don't have to be alive to do surgery stuff, correct? So the organ harvest can be real. This should be a random event. A surgeon and/or CMO may be called upon to do some black market stuff. I didn't understand this at all. Of course, cutting up a xeno should have special equipment and protective gear. They should be valuable, indeed. But does the last part mean ("don't try to lay an egg....") that you implant somebody else with a xeno organ and they get the ability to lay eggs? If so, I don't like it. Otherwise, I love it. Departments such as medbay need opt-in side projects. Organ harvest rates about right on the creepy and cynicism scale. Being a doctor on a quiet round can be really boring. To be the one to extract queen gel gland from a xeno grandma is way cool. Also, centcomm gets another range of possible faxes. It may demand xeno parts.... prompting the captain to organize an away party through the gateway. I came to think of something: Maybe a low level ling/vamp should be possible to identify using a physical examination. Like shining lights in the eyes or using the stethoscope. It could be randomized, so that putting a suspect through a physical examination wouldn't be a sure fire thing to eliminate someone as a suspect. But it would certainly make sense to ask a doctor to take a look at a suspected ling. And the only way to achieve that in-game is to introduce a possibility for in in-game payoff. It requires a little more thought, though, otherwise every security officer will be carrying a pocket light and a stethoscope, which makes little sense.

Medbay is very quiet at the start of a shift, lest there is some antaggy shenanigans afoot. I believe more workstations should idle well. You shouldn't have to sit dead quiet waiting for someone to need your services. I have a couple of suggestions and I want to see if any of them get any traction. Combine chemistry and chemical research. The chemist usually has little reason to stay after stocking up the fridge. Why has the map devs separated is on-demand work and his idling work into two separate jobs? The chemist can be formally under the RD (since the RD is likely to give up the geneticist). There should be a service desk and fridge accessible from medbay. Maybe we can even have a chemist that sticks around... Put genetics and virology closer to make it possible to jump between the two. Both of these have little on-demand work a regular day, but both can suddenly become swamped. Together they have enough side projects to keep things interesting for longer than today. So, in a slow shift, a bored geneticist can be elevated to a "medical researcher" and swing a bit back and forth between the two functions. Have some apparatus that can cause a specific injury/ medical condition. Medbay is slow at the beginning of the shift. This thing can make it possible to use humanized monkeys for training. The CMO can stage an exercise for a patient passed from paramedic to doctor to surgeon to nurse.

I vote for the CMO. The geneticist critical function is that of the CMO. Their research is a bonus and does not factor into the research levels, protolathe stuff or anything. Granted, that geneticists don't have the patience to stick around. I think this is because of the lack of an SoP, which again attracts the people who just want to grab the goodies and then leave. No reason why geneticist should be assumed to be easier bored than, say, the surgeon, who has even less things to pass the time with.

Correct. Except that it's not unarmed you're thinking of, it's unarmored. Yes, indeed. Thanks.

Same caliber HP should be superior to AP when shooting an unarmed target, correct?

There is a slight discrepancy that the captain deemed capable of handling a blob is deemed incapable of deciding that an ERT is needed to fight the blob. I realize that some restraint is needed for balance and that this is how it is handled IC'ly, but just thought I would share the observation. Blob is a threat to the existence of the station, which is a major NT asset. Maybe CC could have a "ERT in ten minutes" button, which resulted in a fax saying that the ERT was currently busy, but would be underway ASAP. It would also change the dynamic of the battle if captain/HoS could prioritize containment in a "Hang in there. ERT in seven minutes!!" type of fashion.

To me it's weird that the person is paralyzed, but still yapping and operating the radio headset. Alternatively, hypnotize could be a silent ability until the two seconds was passed. Or the red text could appear only when/if the subject (inadvertently) broke eye contact. So people would be hesitant about facing and talking to a suspected vampire. Which makes sense, lore wise.

If this suggestion is accepted, then the interface to control this can be very similar to the "state laws" dialog box.

I believe the HoS should have the knowledge of dangerous weapons on the station and at least should at some point make a decision as to whether or not post a guard to make sure that the items aren't stolen. These SOP's are going to tie into eachother. If you believe the HoS is hampering the application of new research in the security department, then maybe you should take a look at the SOP for security. And maybe the coders should be able to give Security some love so that the Security dept minute-by-minute play is possible to support from the HoS office. Right now, the HoS is most often the badass robocop more than an administrator. And: A: HoP, can I be borged? HoP: No. A: I resign. Can I be borged HoP: Yes.

I know. This SoP project is looking promising. Suddenly the head position makes sense. Suddenly the IA position makes sense. Suddenly the motivation for selecting a job is not the free reign of a goodie bag. Maybe the "play your role" part of the general server rules should point out that it's unlikely that a person who does not care about SoP would be holding an SoP regulated position.

As everybody seems to agree that no department head (including HoP) outrank any other, regardless of the order of succession as Captain, then it would be good if the SoP reflected that. I believe it is a common misconception that the HoP by definition is second in command.

It is my understanding that: The RD does not outrank the CMO. The HoP does not outrank the CMO. Both are just going to be promoted to captain before CMO if the captain is lost. If RD outranks the CMO in matters relating to robotics, then it's the RD's department. Not a shared department. If either both or either approval is needed, then it is a shared department. I believe genetics should report to the CMO because he is the one whose department responsibility (cloning) depends on their highest priority function, which is life critical. They should not do research when there are bodies to clone. But even if genetics is under the RD department, then it's perfectly doable that giving powers to non-command requires a CMO approval. Just like borging requiring an HoP approval. Though it happens in SS13, I don't think SOP should consider eventualities like "if the Captain does not care". The captain, formally, cares about everything, but has usually delegated much responsibility.

Command succession is not the same as chain of command. RD does not command CMO or medbay until RD replaces Captain. Roboticist should answer to the RD. Aside from due diligence, the Roboticist is not responsible for the RD overriding the Captain.

I'm against it. I feel that this is motivated by engineering feeling that they have little opportunity to showcase their skills. After a blob, engineering certainly become the focus of attention and is currently "deprived" of the key role they would play in restoring station operation. But, in the case of a blob aftermath, I feel that this would be to the detriment of the rest of the players who are likely to have no workstation or functioning department for the rest of the round. Even if explicitly designed as a scenario, it would be very hard to balance the engineering challenge to the engineering department capacity. It's simply too much variation that would have to match the level of competence available. I do agree that engineering have little long term goals. But I feel that these goals should be "opt in". Like, if the xenoarch site is marginally effective, but engineering can turn it into a super-duper facility. Or restoring the derelict. TLDR; I fear this this change, for every success, will result in X number of cases where a crippled crew is left with a crippled station. The whole round experience for everyone shouldn't depend on such a dice roll.

What about straying from their workstation? Under blue alert, should prolonged absence be communicated to the department head? At red alert, all crew should remain at their posts, correct?

Maybe my confusion reveals my lack of robustness, but how would gag help? Will you not face the same predicament? Do you expect that applying a gag will be quicker than removing a headset? Do you expect to apply a gag simultaneously with cuffing?

Just want to add in my five cents that an Xray gun make short works of a malf AI, too. And the AI core starting location is known, so you just have to measure out a strategic tile once and then fire from there. Maybe the xray gun should pass over AI core and BLOB core. Or implement the feature I've been asking for for a while. RnD should not reach the top science tiers without seizing some sort of round depending or random opportunity. Maxing out to insta-win without ever looking up from the table doesn't encourage much interaction.

I have mentioned elsewhere that I would like xeno aggressive grab to happen substantially quicker than for other mobs. Combined with the adjustment/bugfix proposed in this thread, it would make being abducted by a xeno a decent nightmarish experience.

Witness statements should be easy to relate to the actual arrest. I think names of all persons of interest should be possible to list on the (one) arrest report. Victims, Suspects, Witnesses and accuser (which often is just "victim") should have a slot. Witnesses and victim can supplement with own statements, of course, but the one paper filled out by the arresting officer should have as much compact information as possible. It will give the magistrate one paper to quickly give an overview of the case and witnesses can be called.

I did not understand that. If I'm a security officer and you cripple another person for trespass, stealing your pAI or whatever. I arrest him for trespass/theft and I arrest you for assault. You a-help the butthurt. What do you think happens today without this addition to space law? What would change in this scenario?

What people do when security force is scarce or incapacitated? Well, sign up as security officers. Security officers going to SSD cryo in full tactical gear get a job ban warning. Separating vigilantes from good samaritans sounds like the in-game responsibility of the security force. Not an admin job unless the means are unrealistically excessive. In terms of eg lings, I don't know if you can ever call a response excessive. The point would be much more about the "hunting" part of "validhunting", not what they did after locating it. To me, the thing is that most other jobs (except as department head) come with very little strings attached (as we are a "medium" RP server), and are thus, from a practical POV, the more convenient platform from which to hunt for antags than as a security officer. If you are geneticist, you expect to unlock abiilties and then putting them to use however you see fit. I rarely see a geneticist unlocking abilities, making a clear report to CMO and then stick around to cure disabilities, clone DOA's and make a restricted set of SE injectors for the CoC to manage.

I did, about a week ago, when stepping aboard the mining shuttle, step into empty space because the shuttle disappeared exactly as I was moving onto the tile. I think that the shuttle should not leave before the outermost station door is bolted shut and it would require QM access level to press "override". Would this detail, if implemented, satisfy both sides in this thread? AI can withhold the shuttle by bolting a door open, but the potential for abuse would be limited.

I do think items, such as an emag, is evidence of intent of hacking. It is also evidence that you are somehow connected to contacts allowing you to obtain it. I see no foundation for the idea that you found syndicate items by accident. These are used by trained enemy operatives. They are not commonly found. IRL, posession of a drug is evidence of habit of use and a larger amount is evidence of intent to sell. I do think people on a space station would react to what is a clear threat to the station. They are directly affected by a malfunctioning AI, Syndicate operatives, a predatorial species such as a changeling etc. This is not comparable to IRL police. Besides, they have signed up with NT and it's not unreasonable that they swallowed the company cool-aid. I think it is OK that they respond to threats, but their initial diligence at round start before the first alert or PA message cannot be explained. To me, this is about people who would better off playing the free form role as security officers, but find it too hard, disdains the required discipline and/or wants to opt out of the abuse. It's much easier being the chemist, hoarding up tactical recipes and go out looking without the restrictions of a member of the security team. I suspect that if you ask people on a heavy RP server, that this server is what they consider to be (very) light RP. On a heavy RP server, it's unheard of that a nurse performs surgery as well as a surgeon. On this server roles like a scientist comes, under the guise of being "medium RP", with basically no strings attached. Of course it becomes the preferable option to those vetted out by the security force.

I wrote this in the "Exotic materials" thread, but thought that it should be a separate suggestion. I would want for these factors to be cross departments and preferably be at odds with conventional priority. To invite the classical clashes of concerns. "You're not bringing THAT thing onboard!! I don't care about your 'precious' research!!". It could be a xenoarch site that hinders some big mining payoff. A greedy miner will wreck the xenoarch find. It could be a pathogen that can be grown at xenobio, but so dangerous that armed guards would observe quarantine. It could be, my favorite, that a live vamp/ling/xeno should be contained and studied whereas the Captain/HoS would need to quell the lynch mob. It could even be done under the radar (and exposed by IAA) for some mad scientist persona. These are classical themes, unlocks considerable RP with lots of pop culture references, and also solves the candy crush'esque nature of Science at SS13. I realize that there is some coding challenges here, but it doesn't have to be more than a device that should be pointed at a live changeling on a regular basis (maybe five times with at least a minute interval) for huge gain, autopsy artifacts for medium gain, trace materials for small gain etc. How one would go about applying those would be up to regular gameplay. And, if a vampire is captured and studied, maybe it should allow construction of a vampire compass or something that would help in locating other vampires. It would create some interesting dynamics. HoS would have to distribute his/her assets to safeguard the research vs safeguarding the public through regular patrols.